The Amentum-led prime that manages the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has terminated a $135 million subcontract for construction of a new ventilation system.
Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) on Monday announced the dismissal of Critical Applications Alliance (CCA) from the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) project. The contractor said it and the Energy Department “determined that termination of the subcontract is necessary to ensure the quality, safety, and timely completion of this important project,” according to a brief emailed statement.
The contract was terminated Aug. 28.
The Amentum-BWX Technologies joint venture referred to the move as a “termination for convenience” – a term under Federal Acquisition Regulation that says agreements can be ended for a variety of reasons when it is in the government’s interest. Nuclear Waste Partnership said it will immediately begin procurement of a new subcontractor to complete construction of the SSCVS.
The prime contractor and DOE announced in November that CAA, a venture comprised of Houston-based Christensen Building Group and Kilgore Industries, would build the project designed to boost underground airflow at the transuranic waste site by three times the present level of roughly 170,000 cubic feet per minute.
At one point early in its tenure, CAA elected to buy a hotel property in the greater Carlsbad area to house its workers. Christensen Building Group, a partner in CAA, used a July website posting to praise progress on construction of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System.
The Energy Department hoped the project would be finished in 2021. It has said increasing airflow for workers is key toward allowing simultaneous mining, waste emplacement, and maintenance. Ample ventilation is necessary deep underground to dissipate noxious gases that can collect there. The current ventilation setup is far below the 425,000 cubic feet per minute capability prior to a 2014 accident.
Now, however, DOE and its contractor expect the ventilation project operating no sooner than November 2023. Because a new project baseline with a detailed schedule remains to be done, the actual date could be later, Nuclear Waste Partnership Chief of Staff Kevin Donovan said this week during an advance session for the ExchangeMonitor’s upcoming RadWaste Summit. The project cost could also go up, he added.
The overall ventilation project includes construction of major surface facilities such as a salt reduction building and a new filter building. The new filter building is still at the foundation level and the walls must still be erected around it, Donovan said. The project also includes ramping up huge underground fans.
Separate from the SSCVS, a new underground shaft is being installed under a different subcontract: a $75-million deal with the Harrison Western-Shaft Sinkers Joint Venture. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said excavation has reached 56 feet and using process that employs a small excavator and explosive charges. The shaft will be 26 feet in diameter eventually reach more than 2,200-feet underground.
The agency said in 2018 the CAA ventilation contract called for construction of the largest containment fan system among the department’s facilities and the largest WIPP infrastructure project in 30 years.
Officials anticipate the ventilation upgrade will help return WIPP to emplacement levels it recorded prior to a February 2014 fire and underground radiation release that forced the disposal facility out of service for about three years. Before the accident, WIPP disposed of 724 shipments in 2013. By comparison, there were only 292 in 2019.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is currently operating only four 10-hour daytime shifts during the week, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In more normal times, there can be 11 shifts of various lengths. The facility is taking a maximum of five shipments per week, or generally half what it might accept during a good week. The official noted the virus has caused temporary loss of certain key people needed on-site and impaired WIPP production.
